Her Scent
by Chelsea Deanne
Summary: Inu-Yasha's reflections on how Kagome's scent affects him, and Kagome's thoughts on how he behaves around her. Also includes a rather scary-but-true biology lesson. [COMPLETE - for real this time!]
1. Her Scent

Inuyasha picked up a seemingly-discarded piece of clothing. It was some type of shirt, obviously Kagome's, and more than likely left by accident as she hurried back to her world. Bringing it to his sensitive nose he inhaled deeply, drinking in her fragrance. Her scent. As unique as any fingerprint, sweetly hers, with him even when she wasn't.  
  
He had once referred to it as a stench, but that wasn't true. It had never been true. Truth be told, he had begun to find her scent oddly comforting, and often slept more soundly with her nearby. He didn't even need to be all that close to her, even lounging on a branch high above her was enough.  
  
But he told himself it meant he was getting soft, or that it would hinder his fighting ability if he was concerned with such trivial details. Once he had even managed to convince himself her scent wasn't important to him.  
  
Then he fought the spider-demons.  
  
Not only had he ended up trapped in a room, he had also been trapped within a pitiful human body that had little hope of withstanding the demonic poisons coursing through his blood. But it wasn't the shadow of death creeping up on him that disturbed him as much as the fact that this was the moment he needed the comfort of Kagome's scent the most, and he had lost it. She was right there, but without being able to smell her it was if she had left him to suffer through this alone.  
  
So great was his need that he was able to swallow his stubborn pride long enough to ask her to lay his head on her lap. And when he was finally able to catch her scent with his dulled human senses, he had even surprised himself by complimenting her on it before slipping into sweet unconsciousness.  
  
Did she know how much her scent told him? How it had the power to betray her words, her actions, her very feelings?  
  
No, there was no way she could. She was, after all, only human.  
  
And so she couldn't know how her body whispered its most personal secrets to him. Things no human male was meant to know, but with his keen nose born of demon blood, he knew.  
  
Like when he could detect the scent of blood, her blood, and she didn't appear to be injured. But then it wasn't the fresh scent of a cut or scrape. It was older blood, mingled with other scents, and remained on her person for days.  
  
But there was another secret to her body, one he wasn't sure she even knew about, for she took no precautions to prevent others from finding out.  
  
It was the scent that preceded the blood, an intoxicating perfume he had no name for. If she had truly been the bitch he always called her, he would have said she was in heat. But while females of the canine variety advertise themselves with a full-blown shout of insistence and demand, Kagome's body would coyly whisper and tease his heightened senses. He didn't know which was worse.  
  
Ironically, he would never refer to her as a bitch during this time. It would only serve to reinforce the fact that she was a female, a potential mate, and the dog-boy's train of thought would be instantly derailed.  
  
Miroku was proof enough that mortal males could not sense this change in her, while their demon companions undoubtedly could. Shippo was probably too young to fully understand, and the ancient Myoga had enough self- preservation to know when was a good time to keep his mouth shut.  
  
So she couldn't know how much her scent at this time affected him.  
  
He was, after all, an adolescent male with a body hard-wired to respond to just this sort of stimulus. Another inheritance from his father, he supposed.  
  
Once he thought he could control his body, that he could simply ignore the effect she had on him long enough to get where they were going. Believing that the wind resulting from a fast pace would allow him to literally leave his problems behind, he took off. That was a big mistake.  
  
The silky texture of her wrist against his throat. Her thighs lightly gripping his waist. The warm puffs of her breath against his neck. The soft slide of her chest against his back as it rose and fell with her breathing. The warmth of her body pressing against him. The combination was almost more than he could bear.  
  
In fact it was all he could do to refrain from taking her then and there, claiming her as his own. He had not reached their destination when he was forced to land, needing personal space. When she had questioned why they were walking he was unable to respond, far too busy trying to tame the heated blood pounding through his veins.  
  
He never tried that again.  
  
He usually kept himself at a forced distance from her, close enough to lay claim yet far enough away to be able to keep his impulses under control. That usually worked pretty well. But there were still times when he would slink off alone to do something... anything... to relieve the tangle of pent-up emotions surging through his body.  
  
But if it was torture being near her, being separated from her was sheer Hell.  
  
He remembered once when she had been in her world during this time, this time he dare not tell her about. When she returned she had been in such a good mood, smiling, laughing, and even tickled Shippo until he was breathless with laughter.  
  
She had been, in his opinion, entirely too happy.  
  
He had been convinced it was because she had been in the company of another male, a male that had taken the opportunity her body offered. Surely the reason she gave for her cheer, this 'birthday party' thing, must have been a lie.  
  
Even now he could remember how his heart had constricted as images, unbidden, flowed into his mind. How the bottom fell out of his stomach as he imagined another male's hands on her body, and how the bile had risen in his throat as he saw her with his mind's eye giving that other male the pleasures she had refused Miroku so many times before. Yet he wouldn't admit it was the voice of jealousy he was hearing as it whispered, unrelenting, in his all-too-sensitive ears.  
  
And how furious she would be if she ever found out what he had done. How he had gone to her that night, creeping up quietly so as not to wake her or the young fox-demon who slept at her side.  
  
With taught muscles ready to spring away at any instant, he had brought his nose within an inch of her sleeping form and tasted the aroma of her body. It was not the scent of another male he found clinging to her, but that of her family. And nothing strong enough amongst the other scents to suggest close physical contact. The relief that washed through him was so tangible he had nearly collapsed on the spot.  
  
No, she could not know.  
  
But he did not care for her. No, he had tried that emotion before and found it not to his liking. His mother... Kikyo... both had proven that caring only meant you would be hurt. That meant there was some other reason Kagome's scent affected him the way it did, while the scent of other females, such as Sango, did not. He just hadn't figured out what it was. Yet.  
  
Until then he would deal with it, the heaven and the hell, the comfort he would not allow himself and the desire he fought to control. He would keep it all a secret and no-one, not the lecherous Miroku nor the child-like Shippo, and especially not Kagome, would ever be the wiser.  
  
Inuyasha put the shirt down, sighing gently.  
  
No, he could never tell her how much her scent meant to him.  
  
For if he did, he could never go near her again. 


	2. He Thinks I Don't Know

I catch him, sometimes, in his doggy habits.  
  
I'd never call them that to his face, of course. He's far too sensitive about his heritage to take it as anything other than an insult. Even so, his father's canine blood makes itself known in more ways than fangs and fuzzy ears.  
  
The way his tongue rolls when he yawns, or how he cocks his head to the side when something catches his interest.  
  
The way he smells me.  
  
He's very subtle about it, of course. I suppose I wouldn't even notice it at all if I didn't watch him as much as I do.  
  
All right, I'll say it...  
  
If I didn't love him as much as I do.  
  
Sometimes it's short little puffs of air, like when he's tracking some demon down. Only much, much quieter. It's as if he's looking for a secret but at the same time doesn't want anyone else to know if he's found it.  
  
Other times he takes a few deep, slow breaths, even holding them on occasion. He seems to be tasting, even savoring the air around him.  
  
But why does he only do this to me? I've never seen him subject Sango or Miroku to the same levels of scrutiny, excluding first meetings of course. But then again, he could just be doing it when I'm not looking, right? I mean, it's not like I constantly watch him out of the corner of my eye or anything.  
  
I'm such a liar.  
  
So why me?  
  
Sometimes I wonder if he's just curious. After all, my world is probably a buffet of scents that can't be found here. Then there's my shampoo, my body lotion, my deodorant...  
  
Myself?  
  
Oh, how I wish that were true.  
  
But then there times when I'm feeling rather self-destructive, and I think it's because of Kikyo. After all, didn't Inuyasha mistake my scent for hers when we first met? And I know it sounds odd, but right now I probably smell more like Kikyo than Kikyo does.  
  
The Kikyo of his past, I mean. When she was alive and untainted by the scents of death, of ash and grave.  
  
The Kikyo he loved.  
  
Loves.  
  
So where does that leave me?  
  
At times I can't stand not knowing why he's doing what he's doing. I can imagine myself in a fit of immaturity storming up to him and demanding to know what's going on, and sitting him until he answers. Then I'd know.  
  
But I'm afraid to know.  
  
Because what if...  
  
......  
  
He's smelling me again.  
  
He thinks I don't know.  
  
......  
  
I suppose I really don't. 


	3. biology behind it all

As my notes seem to be as well received as the fic itself, I've decided to expand them into sort of an essay.  
  
I challenged myself to write a totally different Inu-Yasha story, and I guess I succeeded. While many authors point out the fact that Inu-Yasha is part demon, I decided to focus on the fact that he's part DOG demon.  
  
And now for a little biology to clarify a few points. When a female dog is ovulating, or 'in heat', her body releases a set of pheromones that attract every male dog in the neighborhood. They show up at her doorstep, ready, willing, and eager to sire every pup they possibly can, often reacting violently to competition. But I'm sure you already knew that.  
  
But what you might NOT know is that human females do the very same thing. Women generally ovulate about a week before the start of their period, and are most fertile during this time period. During this time she also releases her own set of pheromones specifically designed to attract members of the opposite sex. So why do we not see the same result as we do in dogs? The deal is, women have historically (as in million years historically) found it to make more sense to hide when they are receptive, so they virtually (but not totally) stopped producing pheromones. No longer useful, the organ in human males that senses pheromones shrank to virtually nothing and generally doesn't do anything anymore.  
  
Which is why Inu-Yasha was reacting while Miroku wasn't.  
  
Ahh, but the evolutionary explanation barely scratches the surface, and tends to involve more than a bit of arm waving. So how about something you can sink your teeth into, so to speak?  
  
Now to recap. Female dogs go into heat, secreting pheromones that alert nearby breeding partners. But then what's the fun in only telling the guys? Lionesses take this one step further, and alert the girls as well. Look this up if you don't believe me, but it has been shown that lionesses use the pheromone secretions of the other female pride members in order to synchronize their estrous cycles. this means that they all go into heat at the same time, and will most likely become pregnant and give birth at about the same time. And why do they do this? For baby-sitters, of course. Isn't it best when the majority of the lionesses can go out hunting together, with only one remaining behind capable of nursing ALL the cubs? Then during the next hunting party, a different lioness stays behind.  
  
Now why am I telling you about lions? There are none in my story. Simple. I'm using them as an example to show that human females do in fact secrete pheromones. The proof is simple. Take a group of females (sisters, roommates, co-workers), and have them live or work in close quarters for extended periods of time. They will begin to synchronize their estrous cycles. Don't believe me? Talk to sisters who have been sharing the same room for years. They tend to have their periods around the same time. Or better yet, talk to the guards of a woman's correctional facility, and they can tell you of the joys of several hundred inmates PMSing at the same time.  
  
So guys can't smell pheromones but girls unconsciously can? Is that true? Well, to some extent, yes. We girls can even detect subtle things about our guy's scents. Proof for this was based on work with mice. It has been shown that in this one species of mice, there are different variations of the immune system. About four, I think. Also, breeding two different variations together produced healthier babies than breeding two mice of the same type. The female mice could tell this, and would prefer to mate with 'different' males. Once they were pregnant they would prefer the company of 'same' males, as they were more likely to be related to them and thus be safer around the kids.  
  
Here's the cool stuff. Human immune systems also have variations, and a mate who is 'different' is better than a mate who is 'same'. Sort of like being able to sniff out different blood types. Anyway, as scientists couldn't very well ask women to go hopping into beds with strange men, just so they could test the health of the resulting offspring, they devised an easier test. A group of men were each asked to wear a shirt for 48 hours straight, no showers, no deodorant, no nothing. The shirts were then put into bottles, and given for ladies to sniff. The ladies would then rate each shirt based on how much they liked the smell. Low and behold, most preferred men who were 'different'. Interestingly, those who were on a form of birth control which simulated pregnancy (like the pill), preferred men who were 'same'. Kinda makes you wonder... is your beau really the one for you?  
  
However, scientists agree that it's a combination of factors (not just this one) that makes a girl think 'Mmmm, you smell nice...' Oh, and ladies? You think your guy just happens to smell extra nice during certain times of the month, but he's not doing anything different? Well, it's not him, it's just you paying attention to him on different levels.  
  
Wrapping up. I'm sure you'll all agree that male dogs can sense pheromones. Human males, on the other hand, are generally clueless when it comes to this type of thing. They don't know a girl is on her period until they find a tampon in the trash can.  
  
Which, once again, is why Inu-Yasha was reacting while Miroku wasn't.  
  
And in the sequal, Kagome is not a biology major, so she doesn't have all the information I do and thus can't quite figure out what is going on in our favorite puppydog's mind.  
  
Now that you've read this, reread the fic and see if it makes any more sense. For those of you who are currently asking yourself "Where on Earth is she getting this stuff?" the answer is simple; I'm a University graduate with a Bachelor's of Science in Biology, and I have a passion for programs on TLC and the Discovery channel. And if you have any more questions about my biology lesson, or if you want to know more of the behavioral aspects of this, email me. 


End file.
